The Local War on Food Waste

By JP Williamson, Regional Organic Waste Officer on June 4, 2019 in Other

Families that compost together, stay together.

Did you know over 24,000 of your neighbours in the Eastern Suburbs are now recycling their food scraps at home? These local everyday heroes are kicking some serious goals in the ‘war on waste’. They’ve kept well over 3 million kilograms of food waste out of the tip (think 18 million bananas), plus almost 6 kilotons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere. Nice one! So why is everyone composting?

1. It’s quick and cheap to start
It’s easy to get started, especially with Council’s Compost Revolution program. In just 10 minutes, you can complete an online tutorial at compostrevolution.com.au and order your worm farm or compost bin for 80 per cent off RRP. Council will deliver it to you for FREE, along with everything you need to get started. Bingo!

2. It’s easy to maintain
Compost bins are perfect for people with a garden, and worm farms are great for apartments since they can be kept indoors. To keep a compost going, just stir in your food and garden scraps each time you add them. With a worm farm, just rotate the trays once each season or so. Kids love helping so it can be a great family activity too. With easy options for everyone, it’s simple to keep going. Over 90 per cent of people who started through Compost Revolution were still composting when surveyed by Council a year later!

3. It’s good for the ‘hood
“Composting and worm farming are the easiest and most cost-effective ways to change the game for organic waste, while also addressing climate change,” says JP Williamson, Regional Organic Waste Officer at Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra councils. “People love the program, especially the sense of community and huge feel-good factor around it.”
With 50 per cent of the average household rubbish bin made up of compostable materials, food waste accounts for some 16.5 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually in Australia[1] which is equivalent to Australia’s entire civil aviation sector[2].
“Food waste is the single biggest contributor to landfills. These [landfills] are filling up at unprecedented rates, releasing harmful acids and greenhouse gases like methane which is driving climate change 25 times faster than CO2,” says Jeff Angel, Executive Director of the Total Environment Centre.
“Composting is something all of us can do to turn a problem into a valuable resource, while making a difference for ourselves and the planet.”

4. Free food for your plants
Compost is black gold for your garden, and worm farms make a great liquid fertiliser that’s easy to water onto gardens and pot plants alike. Plants will love you for it!

[1] http://ageis.climatechange.gov.au; http://www.compostweek.com.au/core/about-composting.
[2] https://infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/environmental/emissions.

Originally developed by Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra councils in 2010, Compost Revolution was so successful locally that it has since gone national through a partnership with local businessman Dave Gravina. Over 10 kilotons (think 56 million bananas) of food waste across Australia has been saved from the tip, by 43,000 households composting across 31 councils that now run the program. You can get started at compostrevolution.com.au. Thanks for making composting second nature!